Are we already worse off?? Is what’s going on right now similar to have the general public felt then?
I was too young to remember.
Are we already worse off?? Is what’s going on right now similar to have the general public felt then?
I was too young to remember.
Comments
If we keep this path it’s going to be much worse.
No there hasn’t been a rash of suicides and foreclosures yet.
Yet.
I was 18 and in college. Unemployment started creeping up around end of 2008 into 2009 and beyond. It peaked at almost 10%. Right now, it’s 4.1% which is what it was mid-2007. So we haven’t see the effects yet, it could get worse.
We’re not already worse off though, imo.
I remember the same feeling on that one day that the market just tanked. I was in my final year of law school and everyone scrambled to accept their firm’s offers that day before they were rescinded. I never ended up getting a legal job and it changed my whole career trajectory. Shook my professional confidence permanently.
But that bubble popping was…logical, in a way. This is like a madman pursuing his own nefarious goals. I agree it seems way worse, in a great depression sort of way to be followed by (hopefully) a huge national recovery and New Deal to rebuild our social safety net, schools, and infrastructure.
2008 wasn’t intentional though
2008 was bad, but I feel like the government was trying to mitigate the financial fallout. Whether you agree with the methods or not.
This time the government is the cause of the fallout and we have no idea where it ends.
I was early/mid 20s around 2008.
Although the Recession impacted me personally (I got laid off along with 10k+ others at my firm), I feel like I “YOLO’ed” my way through the Recession.
I kept doing was I was doing- hanging out with friends, going to bars/clubs, drinking.
In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the most healthy coping mechanism, but it is what it was.
Back then, I feel like Although I was generally aware of what was going on, I wasn’t as concerned. It was just another “unprecedented time” that we were living through… but around that time, that’s when I made the decision that I never wanted kids.
I’m early 40s now. I am more aware of world events, and personal finance. I feel like I’m more aware that things are costing more to buy. Even back in 08ish, I was financially independent from my parents, but I didn’t think much about how much things were costing. I just spent (#yolo).
I’m really concerned about what’s happening today and what could happen. Although I don’t have kids of my own, my friends and siblings have kids, so obviously I hope the world isn’t a dumpster fire for them.
I don’t drink or go to bars/clubs anymore, but my new coping mechanism is reading lots of fiction books.
It feels different. I was in college at the time. At the time unemployment was higher, and there was the subprime housing bubble.
BUT in 2008 the buying power of $1 is roughly equivalent to $1.45 today. In 2008 renting a 2 bedroom residence was on average $989 in CA, or $610 in GA. In 2025 the mean cost of a 2 bedroom is $1565 in CA, and $972 in GA. (source: https://www.rentdata.org/states/2025 ). The prices of consumer goods are also generally trending upward. (Source: https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-price-index-average-price-data.htm ). At the same time minimum wage and salaries for the middle and lower class have not kept pace with inflation or consumer goods. (source: https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ )
So I’d say 2008 felt more like big, dramatic changes in the market and some people ended up doing very poorly. However, the middle class felt more stable in 2008. 2025 feels like (and is) a sapping of the earnings, accumulated wealth, and generational wealth of the middle class. It’s just harder to get by in 2025.